System improving signal handling

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a system improving signal handling, e.g., transmission and/or processing. In an embodiment, the system may include a filter circuit, a magnitude bit truncation circuit and a utility circuit. The filter circuit may be coupled to a target signal which contains one or more desired signals at one or more interested bands, for attenuating each said interested band to form a filtered signal. The magnitude bit truncation circuit may be coupled to the filter circuit, for truncating one or more bits of each sample of the filtered signal to form a truncated signal. The utility circuit may be coupled to the magnitude bit truncation circuit, for handling the truncated signal to implement handling of the target signal, so as to reduce resource requirement and enhance error tolerance comparing with directly handling the target signal.

This application is a Division of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/044,731,filed Jul. 25, 2018, which claims the benefit of U.S. provisionalapplication Ser. No. 62/550,037, filed Aug. 25, 2017. The entirecontents of each of these applications is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system improving signal handling, andmore particularly, to a hardware system improving transmission and/orprocessing of a target signal by transmitting and/or processing atruncated signal or a modulated signal instead of the target signal,wherein the truncated or modulated signal may be formed by one or moreof following: modulating to a rougher quantization resolution,attenuating interested band(s) of desired signal(s) contained in thetarget signal, and/or truncating magnitude bit(s) per sample.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Hardware circuitry system for handling signal, such as transmitting asignal across different semiconductor chips (dice) and/or processing asignal, is essential for modern electronic device. For example, in amobile phone, signals for telecommunication need to be transmittedbetween an RF (radio frequency) transceiver and a processor. Also,signals need to undergo digital and/or analog signal processing,including delaying, mathematical operations (e.g., summation andmultiplication), filtering, transformation, mixing, etc. Signal handlingdemands system resources, including layout area, gate count, pin count,power, time, etc. Signal handling also suffers from error and/or fault,such as bit error happened during signal transmission, and/or faulthappened during signal processing owing to ground bounce, supply voltagefluctuation, simultaneous switching noise and/or cosmic ray.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the invention is providing a system (e.g., 100, 200, 300or 400 in FIG. 1a, 2a , 3 or 4) improving signal handling, e.g., signaltransmission and/or processing. The system may include a filter circuit(e.g., 120, 220, 320 or 420 in FIG. 1a, 2a , 3 or 4), a magnitude bittruncation circuit (e.g., 130, 230, 330 or 430 in FIG. 1a, 2a , 3 or 4)and a utility circuit (e.g., 140, 240, 340 or 440 in FIG. 1a, 2a , 3 or4). The filter circuit may be coupled to a target signal (e.g., si1,si2, si3 or si4 in FIG. 1a, 2a , 3 or 4) which contains one or moredesired signals at one or more interested bands, for attenuating eachsaid interested band to form a filtered signal (e.g., sf1, sf2, sf3 orsf4 in FIG. 1a, 2a , 3 or 4). The magnitude bit truncation circuit maybe coupled to the filter circuit, for truncating one or more bits ofeach sample of the filtered signal to form a truncated signal (e.g.,st1, st2, st3 or st4 in FIG. 1a, 2a , 3 or 4). The utility circuit maybe coupled to the magnitude bit truncation circuit, for handling thetruncated signal to implement handling of the target signal, so as toreduce resource requirement and enhance error tolerance comparing withdirectly handling the target signal.

In an embodiment (e.g., FIG. 1a or 2 a), the system may further includea modulator (e.g., 110 or 210 in FIG. 1a or 2 a) coupled between thetarget signal and the filter circuit, for modulating the target signalto a modulated signal (e.g., sm1 or sm2 in FIG. 1a or 2 a) of a rougherquantization resolution, with noise shaping. In an embodiment, themodulator may be a multi-bit sigma-delta modulator arranged to modulatethe target signal by multi-bit sigma-delta modulation. In an embodiment,the target signal may be an analog signal, and the modulated signal maybe a digital signal. In an embodiment, the target signal may be adigital signal, the modulated signal may be a digital signal, and numberof bits per sample of the target signal is greater than number of bitsper sample of the modulated signal.

In an embodiment (e.g., FIG. 1a, 2a , 3 or 4), the filter circuit may bea digital difference encoder for attenuating each said interested bandby differential operation. In an embodiment (e.g., FIG. 1a, 2a , 3 or4), the utility circuit may handle the truncated signal to form ahandled signal (e.g., sh1, sh2, sh3 or sh4 in FIG. 1a, 2a , 3 or 4), andthe system may further include an inverse filter circuit (e.g., 150,250, 350 or 450 in FIG. 1a, 2a , 3 or 4) for integrating the handledsignal.

In an embodiment (e.g., FIG. 1a or 3), the utility circuit may include adigital physical layer circuit (e.g., 142 or 342 in FIG. 1a or 3) fortransmitting the truncated signal to implement transmission of thetarget signal.

In an embodiment (e.g., FIG. 2a or 4), the utility circuit may be adigital signal processor for processing the truncated signal toimplement processing of the target signal.

In an embodiment (e.g., FIG. 1a, 2a , 3 or 4), the utility circuit mayhandle the truncated signal to form a handled signal, and the system mayfurther include an inverse filter circuit (e.g., 150, 250, 350 or 450 inFIG. 1a, 2a , 3 or 4) coupled to the utility circuit, for applying aninverse filtering transfer function (e.g., H⁻¹(z)) to the handledsignal, wherein the inverse filtering transfer function is a reciprocalof a transfer function (e.g., H(z)) of the filter circuit at each saidinterested band.

An objective of the invention is providing a system (e.g., 500 or 600 inFIG. 5 or 6) improving signal handling; the system may include asigma-delta modulator (e.g., 510 or 610 in FIG. 5 or 6) and a utilitycircuit (e.g., 540 or 640 in FIG. 5 or 6). The sigma-delta modulator maybe coupled to a target signal (e.g., si5 or si6 in FIG. 5 or 6), formodulating the target signal to a sigma-delta modulated signal (e.g.,sm5 or sm6 in FIG. 5 or 6) by sigma-delta modulation. The utilitycircuit may be coupled to the sigma-delta modulator, for handling thesigma-delta modulated signal to implement handling of the target signal,so as to reduce resource requirement and enhance error tolerancecomparing with directly handling the target signal. In an embodiment,the sigma-delta modulator may be a one-bit sigma-delta modulator, andnumber of bits per sample of the sigma-delta modulated signal maytherefore equal one. In an embodiment, the sigma-delta modulator may bea multiple-bit sigma-delta modulator, and number of bits per sample ofthe sigma-delta modulated signal may be greater than one. In anembodiment (e.g., FIG. 5), the utility circuit may include a digitalphysical layer circuit (e.g., 542) for transmitting the sigma-deltamodulated signal across different semiconductor chips to implementtransmission of the target signal. In an embodiment (e.g., FIG. 6), theutility circuit may be a digital signal processor for processing thesigma-delta modulated signal to implement processing of the targetsignal.

An objective of the invention is providing a system (e.g., 700 or 800 inFIG. 7 or 8) improving signal handling. The system may include amodified modulator (e.g., 710 or 810 in FIG. 7 or 8), a magnitude bittruncation circuit (730 and 830 in FIG. 7 or 8) and a utility circuit(e.g., 740 or 840 in FIG. 7 or 8). The modified modulator may be coupledto a target signal (e.g., si7 or si8 in FIG. 7 or 8), for modulating thetarget signal to a modulated signal (e.g., sm7 or sm8 in FIG. 7 or 8) bya modified signal transfer function (e.g., STF_(M)(z) in FIG. 7 or 8)and a modified noise transfer function (e.g., NTF_(M)(z) in FIG. 7 or8). The magnitude bit truncation circuit may be coupled to the modifiedmodulator, for truncating one or more bits of each sample of themodulated signal to form a truncated signal (e.g., st7 or st8 in FIG. 7or 8). The utility circuit may be coupled to the magnitude bittruncation circuit, for handling the truncated signal to implementhandling of the target signal, so as to reduce resource requirement andenhance error tolerance comparing with directly handling the targetsignal. Wherein the target signal may contain one or more desiredsignals at one or more interested bands; the modified signal transferfunction may be a multiplication of an intrinsic signal transferfunction (e.g., STF(z) in FIG. 7 or 8) and a filter transfer function(e.g., H(z) in FIG. 7 or 8); the modified noise transfer function may bea multiplication of an intrinsic noise transfer function (e.g., NTF(z)in FIG. 7 or 8) and the filter transfer function; the intrinsic signaltransfer function may pass the one or more interested bands, theintrinsic noise transfer function may shape noise away from the one ormore interested bands, and the filter transfer function may attenuateeach said interested band. In an embodiment (e.g., FIG. 7), the utilitycircuit may include a digital physical layer circuit (e.g., 742 in FIG.7) for transmitting the truncated signal across different semiconductorchips to implement transmission of the target signal. In an embodiment(e.g., FIG. 8), the utility circuit may be a digital signal processorfor processing the truncated signal to implement processing of thetarget signal. In an embodiment (e.g., FIG. 7 or 8), the utility circuitmay handle the truncated signal to form a handled signal (e.g., sh7 orsh8 in FIG. 7 or 8), and the system may further include an inversefilter circuit (e.g., 750 or 850 in FIG. 7 or 8) for applying an inversefiltering transfer function (e.g., H⁻¹(z) in FIG. 7 or 8) to the handledsignal, wherein the inverse filtering transfer function may be areciprocal of the filter transfer function at each said interested band.In an embodiment (e.g., FIG. 7 or 8), the filter transfer function maybe arranged to attenuate each said interested band by differentialoperation.

An objective of the invention is providing a system (e.g., 100, 200,300, 400, 500, 600, 700 or 800 in FIG. 1a, 2a , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8)improving signal handling; the system may include a compressioncircuitry (e.g., 170, 270, 370, 470, 570, 670, 770 or 870 in FIG. 1a, 2a, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8) and a utility circuit (e.g., 140, 240, 340, 440,540, 640, 740 or 840 in FIG. 1a, 2a , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8) coupled to thecompression circuitry. The compression circuitry may be coupled to atarget signal (e.g., si1, si2, si3, si4, si5, si6, si7 or si8 in FIG.1a, 2a , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8), for compressing the target signal to forma compressed signal (e.g., st1, st2, st3, st4, sm5, sm6, st7 or st8 inFIG. 1a, 2a , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8). The target signal may contain one ormore desired signals at one or more interested bands. The utilitycircuit may be coupled to the compression circuitry, for handling thecompressed signal to implement handling of the target signal, so as toreduce resource requirement and enhance error tolerance comparing withdirectly handling the target signal. Wherein the compression circuitrymay include at least one of the following: a modulator (e.g., 110, 210,510, 610, 710 or 810 in FIG. 1a, 2a , 5, 6, 7 or 8) for modulatingsignal to a rougher quantization resolution, a filter circuit (e.g.,120, 220, 320 or 420 in FIG. 1a, 2a , 3 or 4) for attenuating interestedband(s) of the desired signal(s), and a magnitude bit truncation circuit(e.g., 130, 230, 330, 430, 730 or 830 in FIG. 1a, 2a , 3, 4, 7 or 8) fortruncating one or more bits per sample.

In an embodiment (e.g., FIG. 1a or 2 a), the compression circuitry mayinclude the modulator, the filter circuit and the magnitude bittruncation circuit; the modulator may be coupled between the targetsignal and the filter circuit, for modulating the target signal to amodulated signal (e.g., sm1 or sm2 in FIG. 1a or 2 a); the filtercircuit may be coupled between the modulator and the magnitude bittruncation circuit, for attenuating each said interested band to form afiltered signal (e.g., sf1 or sf2 in FIG. 1a or 2 a); and, the magnitudebit truncation circuit may be coupled between the filter circuit and theutility circuit, for truncating one or more bits of each sample of thefiltered signal to form a truncated signal (e.g., st1 or st2 in FIG. 1aor 2 a) as the compressed signal.

In an embodiment (e.g., FIG. 3 or 4), the compression circuitry mayinclude the filter circuit and the magnitude bit truncation circuit; thefilter circuit may be coupled between the target signal and themagnitude bit truncation circuit, for attenuating each said interestedband to form a filtered signal (e.g., sf3 or sf4 in FIG. 3 or 4); and,the magnitude bit truncation circuit may be coupled between the filtercircuit and the utility circuit, for truncating one or more bits of eachsample of the filtered signal to form a truncated signal (e.g., st3 orst4 in FIG. 3 or 4) as the compressed signal.

In an embodiment (e.g., FIG. 5 or 6), the compression circuitry mayinclude the modulator, which may be a sigma-delta modulator (or anoise-shaping modulator) coupled to the target signal, for modulatingthe target signal to a sigma-delta modulated signal (e.g. sm5 or sm6 inFIG. 5 or 6) as the compressed signal by sigma-delta modulation.

In an embodiment (e.g., FIG. 7 or 8), the compression circuitry mayinclude the modulator and the magnitude bit truncation circuit; themodulator may be a modified modulator coupled to the target signal, formodulating the target signal to a modulated signal (e.g., sm7 or sm8 inFIG. 7 or 8) by a modified signal transfer function and a modified noisetransfer function; the magnitude bit truncation circuit may be coupledto the modified modulator, for truncating one or more bits of eachsample of the modulated signal to form a truncated signal (e.g., st7 orst8 in FIG. 7 or 8) as the compressed signal; wherein the modifiedsignal transfer function may be a multiplication of an intrinsic signaltransfer function and a filter transfer function, the modified noisetransfer function may be a multiplication of an intrinsic noise transferfunction and the filter transfer function; the intrinsic signal transferfunction may pass the one or more interested bands, the intrinsic noisetransfer function may shape noise away from the one or more interestedbands, and the filter transfer function may attenuate each saidinterested band.

Numerous objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbe readily apparent upon a reading of the following detailed descriptionof embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings. However, the drawings employed herein are forthe purpose of descriptions and should not be regarded as limiting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above objects and advantages of the present invention will becomemore readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art afterreviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings,in which:

FIG. 1a illustrates a system according to an embodiment of theinvention;

FIGS. 1b and 1c illustrates modulators according to embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 1d illustrates a filter circuit according to an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 1e illustrates an inverse filter circuit according to an embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 1f illustrates a frequency response of a filter circuit accordingto an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 1g to 1k illustrates operation examples of the system shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 2a illustrates a system according to an embodiment of theinvention;

FIGS. 2b and 2c illustrate building portions of signal processingaccording to embodiments of the invention;

FIGS. 3 to 8 illustrate systems according to embodiments of theinvention; and

FIGS. 9a and 9b illustrates modulators according to embodiments of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIG. 1a illustrating a system 100 according to anembodiment of the invention. The system 100 may include a compressioncircuitry 170, a utility circuit 140, an inverse filter circuit 150 anda demodulator 160. The compression circuitry 170 may include a modulator110, a filter circuit 120 and a magnitude bit truncation circuit 130.The system 100 may improve handling, e.g., transmission, of a targetsignal si1. The target signal si1 may contain desired signal(s) at oneor more interested bands.

The modulator 110 may be coupled between the target signal si1 and thefilter circuit 120, for modulating the target signal si1 to a digitalmodulated signal sm1 of a rougher quantization resolution. In anembodiment, the modulator 110 may be a multi-bit sigma-delta modulatorarranged to modulate the target signal si1 by multi-bit sigma-deltamodulation, so the modulated signal sm1 may be a multi-bit digitalsignal; i.e., each sample of the signal sm1 may be a multi-bit digitalvalue. The modulated signal sm1 may be over-sampled, e.g., the modulatedsignal sm1 may be sampled by a sampling rate higher than a Nyquistsampling rate of the desired signal(s).

In an embodiment of the system 100, the target signal si1 may be ananalog signal of an infinitesimal quantization resolution, and themodulator 110 in FIG. 1a may be implemented by a sigma-delta modulator110 b shown in FIG. 1b , so the resultant modulated signal sm1 may be adigital signal of a finite quantization resolution. As shown in FIG. 1b, the modulator 110 b may modulate an analog signal x to a digitalsignal y; to implement the modulator 110 in FIG. 1a , the signals x andyin FIG. 1b may respectively be the signals si1 and sm1 in FIG. 1a . InFIG. 1b , the modulator 110 b may include a sum block 112, a loop filter114, a quantizer 116 and a DAC (digital-to-analog converter) 118. Thesum block 112 may form a signal xb by subtracting an analog signal ybfrom the signal x, the loop filter 114 (e.g., an integrator) and thequantizer 116 may filter, over-sample and quantize the signal xb to formthe signal y, and the DAC 118 may convert the digital signal y to theanalog signal yb.

In an embodiment of the system 100 shown in FIG. 1a , the target signalsi1 may be a digital signal of a finer quantization resolution (e.g.,with more bits per sample), and the modulator 110 may be implemented bya multi-bit digital sigma-delta modulator 110 c shown in FIG. 1c , sothe resultant modulated signal sm1 is a multi-bit digital signal of arougher quantization resolution (e.g., with fewer bits per sample). Inother words, modulation of the modulator 110 may cause number of bitsper sample of the modulated signal sm1 to be less than number of bitsper sample of the target signal si1. For example, the target signal si1may be an 11-bit digital signal with each sample being an 11-bit binaryvalue; on the other hand, the modulated signal sm1 may be a 5-bitdigital signal with each sample being a 5-bit binary value. As shown inFIG. 1c , the modulator 110 c may modulate a digital signal x to adigital signal y; to implement the modulator 110 in FIG. 1a , thesignals x and y in FIG. 1c may respectively be the signals si1 and sm1in FIG. 1a . In FIG. 1c , the modulator 110 c may include a sum block113, a digital loop filter 115 of a transfer function Ld(z), a quantizer117 and a digital feedback filter 119 of a transfer function Bd(z). Thesum block 113 may form a signal xc by subtracting a signal yc from thesignal x, the loop filter 115 and the quantizer 117 may filter andquantize the signal xc to form the signal y, and the feedback filter 119may filter the signal y to the signal yc.

In the system 100 (FIG. 1a ), as the target signal si1 may contain thedesired signal(s) at the interested band(s), the filter circuit 120 maybe coupled to the modulator 110, for attenuating each interested band toform a filtered signal sf1. In an embodiment, the interested band(s) maybe low-pass band(s), and the filter circuit 120 may therefore be adigital difference encoder with a transfer function H(z)=(1−z{circumflexover ( )}(−1)) in terms of z-transform, for attenuating each saidinterested band by differential operation; e.g., the filter circuit 120may be arranged to calculate an n-th sample sf1[n] of the filteredsignal sf1 by subtracting an (n−1)-th sample sm1 [n−1] from an n-thsample sm1 [n] of the modulated signal sm1. Along with FIG. 1a , pleaserefer to FIG. 1d illustrating a digital difference encoder 120 b, whichmay be adopted to implement the filter circuit 120 in FIG. 1a . Theencoder 120 b may encode a signal x to form an encoded signal y; toimplement the filter circuit 120 in FIG. 1a , the signals x and yin FIG.1d may respectively be the signals sm1 and sf1 in FIG. 1a . The encoder120 b may include a sum block 122 and a delay block 128; the delay block128 may delay the signal x to form a delayed signal xd, and the sumblock 122 may subtract the signal xd from the signal x to form thesignal y.

Generally, in an embodiment with desired signal(s) at low-passinterested band(s), the filter circuit 120 may be arranged to have ahigh-pass frequency response; in an embodiment with desired signal(s) athigh-pass interested band(s), the filter circuit 120 may be arranged tohave a low-pass frequency response; and, in an embodiment with desiredsignal(s) at band-pass interested band(s), the filter circuit 120 may bearranged to have a band-rejection frequency response. For example, asshown in FIG. 1f , in an embodiment with desired signals at multipleinterested bands such as bands Bi1 and Bi2, a frequency response (i.e.,the transfer function H(z)) of the filter circuit 120 may be arranged tohave multiple notches at the multiple interested bands, such as thebands Bi1 and Bi2.

In the system 100 shown in FIG. 1a , the magnitude bit truncationcircuit 130 may be coupled to the filter circuit 120, for truncating oneor more bits of each sample sf1 [n] of the filtered signal sf1 to formeach sample st1[n] of a truncated signal st1, such that number of bitsper sample of the truncated signal st1 may be fewer than number of bitsper sample of the filtered signal sf1. Each sample sf1 [n] of the signalsf1 may be a signed value either equal to a positive value+|sf1 [n]| ora negative value −|sf1[n]|; in different embodiments, the signed valueof each sample sf1 [n] may be represented by different binary formats.

In an embodiment which adopts a binary format with a sign bit as themost significant bit, when forming each sample st1 [n] of the truncatedsignal st1 from the sample sf1[n], the magnitude bit truncation circuit130 may keep the sign bit of the sample sf1[n] unchanged, but truncateone or more of rest bits (e.g., most significant one(s) of the restbits) of the sample sf1[n], such that the resultant sample st1[n] may beof the same sign with the sample sf1[n]. For example, in an embodimentwhich adopts a binary format of two's complement, if the sample sf1[n]is a 5-bit positive value represented by binary 00011 and the magnitudebit truncation circuit 130 is designed to truncate two bits, then themagnitude bit truncation circuit 130 may truncate the second and thirdsignificant bits from the sample sf1[n], and the resultant sample st1[n] may therefore be a 3-bit positive value represented by binary 011;on the other hand, if the sample sf1[n] is a 5-bit negative valuerepresented by binary 11101, then the resultant sample st1[n] may be a3-bit negative value represented by binary 101. In an embodiment whichadopts a binary format not using the most significant bit as a sign bit,the magnitude bit truncation circuit 130 may truncate one or more mostsignificant bits of the sample sf1[n] to form the sample st1[n].

The utility circuit 140 may be coupled to the magnitude bit truncationcircuit 130, for transmitting the truncated signal st1 to implementtransmission of the target signal si1, so as to reduce resource demandsand enhance error tolerance comparing with directly transmitting thetarget signal si1. In other words, comparing with directly transmittingthe target signal si1, transmitting the truncated signal st1 resultingfrom collaboration of the modulator 110, the filter circuit 120 and themagnitude bit truncation circuit 130 may require less system resources(e.g., layout area, power, gate count, time, and/or pin count, etc.),and be more tolerable to bit error occurred during transmission. Bycascading the modulator 110, the filter circuit 120 and the magnitudebit truncation circuit 130 to form the truncated signal st1 from theoriginal target signal si1, the target signal si1 may be compressed, sothe truncated signal st1 may carry the desired signal(s) of the targetsignal si1 with fewer bits per sample and/or less throughput, though thetruncated signal st1 may be oversampled.

As shown in FIG. 1a , the utility circuit 140 may comprise two digitalphysical layer circuits 142 and 144 respectively for transmitting andreceiving the truncated signal st1 across different semiconductor chips.In other words, the system 100 may have two portions 102 and 104respectively formed on two different semiconductor chips (dice); theportion 102 may include the modulator 110, the filter circuit 120, themagnitude bit truncation circuit 130 and the digital physical layercircuits 142, while the portion 104 may include the digital physicallayer circuits 144, the inverse filter circuit 150 and the demodulator160. The digital physical layer circuits 142 and 144 may be coupled viaa serialized channel. The digital physical layer circuit 142 mayorganize samples of the truncated signal st1 to packets by attachingproper headers (e.g., synchronization signals) and trailers (e.g., errorcorrection codes), and transmitting the packets to the digital physicallayer circuit 144. When receiving the packets, the digital physicallayer circuit 144 may extract samples of the truncated signal st1 fromthe packets to form a handled signal sh1. Because the digital physicallayer circuits 142 and 144 are designed for transmitting and receivingthe truncated signal st1 instead of the target signal sit, the digitalphysical layer circuits 142 and 144 may be formed by simpler hardware,consume less power, and be more robust against bit error.

To further understand effects of cascading the modulator 110, the filtercircuit 120 and the magnitude bit truncation circuit 130, please referto FIG. 1g along with FIG. 1a . By an example, FIG. 1g comparesfrequency domain behaviors regarding modulation and filteringrespectively performed by the modulator 110 and the filter circuit 120.As shown in a plot 11 of FIG. 1g , in the example of FIG. 1g , thetarget signal si1 (FIG. 1a ) may include desired signal(s) in interestedbands such as bands bi1 to bi2 covered by a low-pass band B0 of abandwidth BW. If the target signal si1 is quantized by a finerquantization resolution with more bits (e.g., 11 bits) per sample, aspectrum of the finer-quantized signal si1 will surfer a lowerquantization noise floor Qnf1 which horizontally extends far beyond theband B0 to additionally occupy a wasted spectrum. The wasted spectrumdoes not contain desired information of the desired signal(s), but stillcosts throughput of transmission. Therefore, directly transmitting orhandling such finer-quantized signal si1 as shown in plot 11 willconsume more system resources.

Rather than directly transmitting or handling the target signal si1 offiner quantization resolution, the system 100 (FIG. 1a ) according tothe invention may transmit or handle the signal st1 resulting frommodulation and filtering of the modulator 110 and the filter circuit120. The modulator 110 may modulate the target signal sit to themodulated signal sm1 of rougher quantization resolution. As shown in aplot 12 of FIG. 1g , the rougher quantization resolution will cause aquantization floor Qnf2 higher than the quantization floor Qnf1 of thefiner quantization resolution. However, modulation of the modulator 110,such as multi-bit sigma-delta modulation, may shape the quantizationfloor Qnf2 to a high-pass curve Qns by transferring a portion of noisepower original at the band BW to the wasted spectrum, and hence thecurve Qns may be lower than the quantization noise floor Qnf1 at theband B0.

In the system 100 (FIG. 1a ), the filter circuit 120 may attenuate eachinterested band of the modulated signal sm1 to form the filtered signalsf1. As shown in a plot 13 of FIG. 1g , by attenuating the band B0covering the interested bands, magnitude of the desired signal(s) may bereduced, so information of the desired signal(s) may be effectivelyrepresented by lower throughput and/or fewer bits per sample, and themagnitude bit truncation circuit 130 (FIG. 1a ) may therefore truncateunnecessary bit(s) and/or throughput without degrading the desiredsignal(s).

As mentioned in previous paragraphs, in an embodiment, the interestedband(s) of the desired signal(s) may be low-pass; accordingly, thefilter circuit 120 for attenuating each interested band may beimplemented by a digital difference encoder with a high-pass transferfunction H(z)=(1−z{circumflex over ( )}(−1)). Based on such embodiment,please refer to FIGS. 1h to 1j along with FIG. 1a ; FIGS. 1h to 1jillustrate effects of the filter circuit 120 respectively from differentaspects. As shown in FIG. 1h , in time domain, the filter circuit 120may calculate a difference between consecutive samples sm1 [n] and sm1[n−1] of the signal sm1 to form a sample sf1[n] of the filtered signalsf1, and the filtered signal sf1 may therefore represent the signal sm1by differences between consecutive samples of the signal sm1. Hence, thefiltered signal sf1 does not need to record a full value of each sampleof the signal sm1; instead, the filtered signal sf1 only needs to recorda partial value (the difference) per sample sf1[n].

Theoretically, a dynamic range of the filtered signal sf1 may exceed adynamic range of the unfiltered signal sm1. For example, assuming thatthe signal sm1 swings between an upper bound Lmax and a lower boundLmin, then it is possible for the filtered signal sf1 to swing to amaximum value (Lmax−Lmin) if sm1[n]=Lmax and sm1[n−1]=Lmin, or swing toa minimum value (Lmin−Lmax) if sm1 [n]=Lmin and sm1 [n−1]=Lmax. If thefiltered signal sf1 does swing between the values (Lmax−Lmin) and(Lmin−Lmax), the dynamic range of the filtered signal sf1 will be2*(Lmax−Lmin), broader than the dynamic range (Lmax-Lmin) of theunfiltered signal sm1. However, under appropriate arrangement of theinvention, the unfiltered signal sm1 may be an over-sampled signal.Over-sampling may ensure consecutive samples of the signal sm1 to varysmoothly, suppress the possibility for consecutive samples of the signalsm1 to rapidly transit between opposite extremes of the dynamic range ofthe signal sm1, and therefore reduce the dynamic range of the filteredsignal sf1 to actually be narrower than the dynamic range of theunfiltered signal sm1.

Reducing dynamic range by filtering the oversampled signal sm1 may alsobe understood from an aspect of probability (histogram), as shown inFIG. 1i . In the example of FIG. 1i , the signal sm1 to be filtered maya 5-bit signal, and each sample sm1 [n] may therefore equal one of 32probable values (levels). As shown in FIG. 1i , a histogram of thesignal sm1, which shows how often each probable value occurs amongsamples of the signal sm1, may spread over the 32 probable values,though some probable values may occur more often than other probablevalues. On the other hand, a histogram of the filtered signal sf1, whichshows how often each probable value occurs among samples of the filteredsignal sf1, will spread over fewer probable values comparing to thehistogram of the signal sm1. Because samples of the filtered signal sf1are formed by small differences between consecutive smooth-varyingsamples of the over-sampled signal sm1, possibility for the filteredsignal sf1 to have samples of large magnitudes will be suppressed. Thenarrower spreading of the histogram of the signal sf1 may reflectreduced dynamic range of the signal sf1, also justify that number ofbits per sample of the filtered signal sf1 may be truncated withoutcompromising desired information.

FIG. 1j compares exemplary spectrums of the unfiltered signal sm1 andthe filtered signal sf1. In the example of FIG. 1j , the signal sm1 maycontain desired information at a low-pass interested band B0, includinga desired signal at a frequency f_d0, so the spectrum of the signal sm1may show a peak at the frequency f_d0, as illustrated in a plot 21 ofFIG. 1j . After filtering of the filter circuit 120 with the high-passtransfer function H(z)=(1−z{circumflex over ( )}(−1)), the spectrum ofthe resultant filtered signal sf1 will show a lower peak at thefrequency f_d0, as illustrated in a plot 22 of FIG. 1j ; in other words,the filtering may attenuate the band B0, including the frequency f_d0.Similar to the narrowed spreading of histogram in FIG. 1i , attenuatedspectrum of the filtered signal sf1 shown in FIG. 1j may also reflectthat samples the filtered signal sf1 are of smaller magnitudes, and thenmay be represented by fewer bits per sample. The filtering of the filtercircuit 120 may effectively reduce ENOB (effective number of bits), suchthat ENOB of the filtered signal sf1 may be fewer than ENOB of thesignal sm1.

In the system 100 (FIG. 1a ), the inverse filter circuit 150 may becoupled to the utility circuit 140, for applying an inverse filteringtransfer function H⁻¹(z) to the handled signal sh1 to form aninverse-filtered signal sift wherein the inverse filtering transferfunction H⁻¹(z) may be a reciprocal of the transfer function H(z) of thefilter circuit 120 (at least) at the interested band(s); e.g.,H(z)*H⁻¹(z)=1 at the interested band(s).

For example, in an embodiment of low-pass interested band(s), the filtercircuit 120 may be a digital difference encoder with a transfer functionH(z)=(1−z{circumflex over ( )}(−1)), and the inverse filter 150 may bean integrator (accumulator) with a transfer functionH⁻¹(z)=1/(1−z{circumflex over ( )}(−1)), for integrating (accumulating)the handled signal sh1 to form the signal sif1. Along with FIG. 1a ,please refer to FIG. 1e illustrating an integrator 150 b which may beadopted to implement the inverse filter circuit 150 in FIG. 1a . Theintegrator 150 b may integrate a signal x to form an integrated signaly; to implemented the inverse filter circuit 150 in FIG. 1a , thesignals x and y in FIG. 1e may respectively be the signals sh1 and sif1in FIG. 1a . The integrator 150 b may include a sum block 152 and adelay block 158; the delay block 128 may delay the signal y to form adelayed signal yd, and the sum block 152 may add the signal yd to thesignal x to form the signal y.

Generally, to have a valid reciprocal for a practical and achievableimplementation of the inverse filter circuit 150, the transfer functionH(z) of the filter circuit 120 may be causal, stable, with minimumphase, and/or be FIR (finite impulse response) of linear phase. Becauseof the reciprocal relation between the transfer functions H(z) andH⁻¹(z) of the filter circuit 120 and the inverse filter circuit 150, theinverse-filtered signal sif1 may be regarded as a recovered version ofthe signal sm1.

The demodulator 160 may be coupled to the inverse filter circuit 150,for demodulating the signal sif1 to form a demodulated signal sdm1 as aresult of transmitting the original target signal si1. Demodulation ofthe demodulator 160 may be an inverse operation of the modulationperformed by the modulator 110. For example, in an embodiment, themodulator 110 may be a sigma-delta modulator, and the demodulator 160may include a decimator and a noise filter (both not shown) forrespectively performing decimation and filtering of quantization noiseon the signal sif1. For example, the decimator may decimate the signalsif1 to form a signal sdc1 (not shown), wherein a sample sdc1 [n] of thesignal sdc1 may be calculated by summing multiple samples (e.g.,sif1[OK] to sif1[n*K+K−1]) with K being a predefined integer) of thesignal sif1.

Along with FIG. 1a , please refer to plots 31 to 34 of FIG. 1killustrating operations of the system 100 by an example. In the example,a target signal si1 is to be transmitted across two differentsemiconductor chips, and the plot 31 shows a spectrum of the targetsignal sit, which may include two desired signals respectively at aninterested band of a frequency f_d1 and another interested band of afrequency f_d2. To implement transmission of the targets signal si1 withlower system resources, the modulator 110, the filter circuit 120 andthe magnitude bit truncation circuit 130 of the system 100 may modulatethe target signal si1 to a modulated signal sm1, filter the signal sm1to a filtered signal sf1 and truncate the signal sf1 to a truncatedsignal st1; the plot 32 shows resultant time-domain waveforms of thesignals sm1 and sf1. As explained by FIGS. 1h, 1i and 1j , while thesignal sm1 swings in a broader dynamic range DR1 shown in the plot 32 ofFIG. 1k , filtering the signal sm1 by the filter circuit 120 may enablethe resultant filtered signal sf1 to swing in a narrower dynamic rangeDR2.

The utility circuit 140 may transmit the signal st1 of a semiconductorchip to form the signal sh1 of another semiconductor chip. Then theinverse filter circuit 150 may apply inverse filtering to the handledsignal sh1 to form an inverse-filtered signal sif1, and the demodulator160 may demodulate the signal sif1 to form a demodulated signal sdm1.The plot 33 shows a resultant time-domain waveform of the signal sif1,and the plot 34 shows a resultant spectrum of the signal sdm1. As shownin FIG. 1k , the signal sif1 (plot 33) will be a recovered version ofthe signal sm1 (plot32); similarly, the signal sdm1 (plot 34) will be arecovery version of the target signal si1 (plot31), and hence thedesired signals at the interested bands of the frequencies f_d1 and f_d2may be retrieved from the signal sdm1. Thus, the system 100 of theinvention may achieve transmission of the target signal si1 with loweredsystem resources by modulating, filtering and truncating the targetsignal si1 to form the signal st1 of lower throughput and/or fewer bitsper sample, and transmitting the signal st1 instead of the target signalsi1.

The system 100 may not only reduce system resources required for signaltransmission, but also enhance robustness against bit error occurredduring signal transmission. Modulation of the modulator 110 maycontribute to the enhanced robustness by spreading desired informationcontained in each sample of the signal si1 to multiple samples of thesignal sm1 (and hence the signals sf1 and st1), so bit error happened toa sample of the signal st1 may merely affect a spread portion of thedesired information. Also, the inverse filter circuit 150 and thedemodulator 160 may be of low-pass nature, thus bit error which appearsas high-frequency noise may be suppressed.

Please refer to FIG. 2a illustrating a system 200 according to anembodiment of the invention. Similar to the system 100 in FIG. 1a , thesystem 200 in FIG. 2a may include a compression circuitry 270, a utilitycircuit 240, an inverse filter circuit 250 and a demodulator 260. Thecompression circuitry 270 may include a modulator 210, a filter circuit220 and a magnitude bit truncation circuit 230. The system 200 mayimprove handling, e.g., processing, of a target signal si2. The targetsignal si2 may contain desired signal(s) at one or more interestedbands.

The modulator 200 in FIG. 2a may be coupled between the target signalsi2 and the filter circuit 210, for modulating the target signal si2 toa digital modulated signal sm2 of a rougher quantization resolution. Inan embodiment, the modulator 210 may be a multi-bit sigma-deltamodulator arranged to modulate the target signal si2 by multi-bitsigma-delta modulation, so the modulated signal sm2 may be a multi-bitdigital signal. The modulated signal sm2 may be over-sampled, e.g., themodulated signal sm2 may be sampled by a sampling rate higher than aNyquist sampling rate of the desired signal(s).

In an embodiment of the system 200, the target signal si2 may be ananalog signal of an infinitesimal quantization resolution, and themodulator 110 in FIG. 1a may be implemented by a multi-bit sigma-deltamodulator (e.g., the modulator 110 b shown in FIG. 1b ), so theresultant modulated signal sm2 may be a multi-bit digital signal of afinite quantization resolution.

In an embodiment of the system 200, the target signal si2 may be adigital signal of a finer quantization resolution (e.g., with more bitsper sample), and the modulator 210 may be implemented by a multi-bitdigital sigma-delta modulator (e.g., the modulator 110 c shown in FIG.1c ), so the resultant modulated signal sm2 may be a multi-bit digitalsignal of a rougher quantization resolution (e.g., with fewer bits persample).

As the target signal si2 may contain the desired signal(s) at one ormore interested bands, the filter circuit 220 may be coupled to themodulator 210, for attenuating each interested band to form a filteredsignal sf2. In an embodiment, the interested band(s) may be low-passband(s), and the filter circuit 220 may therefore be a digitaldifference encoder (e.g., the encoder 120 b in FIG. 1d ) with a transferfunction H(z)=1−z{circumflex over ( )}(−1), for attenuating each saidinterested band by differential operation; e.g., the filter circuit 220may be arranged to calculate an n-th sample sf2[n] of the signal sf2 bysubtracting an (n−1)-th sample sm2[n−1] from an n-th sample sm2[n] ofthe signal sm2.

Generally, in an embodiment with desired signal(s) at low-passinterested band(s), the filter circuit 220 may be arranged to have ahigh-pass frequency response; in an embodiment with desired signal(s) athigh-pass interested band(s), the filter circuit 220 may be arranged tohave a low-pass frequency response; and, in an embodiment with desiredsignal(s) at band-pass interested band(s), the filter circuit 220 may bearranged to have a band-rejection frequency response. For example, asshown in FIG. 1f , in an embodiment with desired signals at multipleinterested bands (e.g., Bi1 and Bi2), a frequency response (i.e., thetransfer function H(z)) of the filter circuit 220 may be arranged tohave multiple notches at the multiple interested bands (e.g., Bi1 andBi2).

In the system 200 (FIG. 2a ), the magnitude bit truncation circuit 230may be coupled to the filter circuit 220, for truncating one or morebits of each sample sf2[n] of the filtered signal sf2 to form eachsample st2[n] of a truncated signal st2, such that number of bits persample of the truncated signal st2 may be fewer than number of bits persample of the filtered signal sf2. While each sample sf2[n] of thesignal sf2 may be a signed value either equal to a positivevalue+|sf2[n]| or a negative value −|sf2[n]|, the magnitude bittruncation circuit 230 may truncate one or more bits from the bits whichrepresent the magnitude |sf2[n]|.

The utility circuit 240 may be a digital signal processor coupled to themagnitude bit truncation circuit 230, for processing the truncatedsignal st2 to implement processing of the target signal si2, so as toreduce resource demands and enhance tolerance of error and/or faultcomparing with directly processing the target signal si2. In otherwords, comparing with directly processing the target signal si2,processing the truncated signal st2 resulting from collaboration of themodulator 210, the filter circuit 220 and the magnitude bit truncationcircuit 230 may require less system resources (e.g., layout area, power,gate count, time, and/or pin count, etc.), and be more tolerable to biterror and/or fault occurred during processing.

Similar to the cascade of the modulator 110, the filter circuit 120 andthe magnitude bit truncation circuit 130 shown in FIG. 1a , by cascadingthe modulator 210, the filter circuit 220 and the magnitude bittruncation circuit 230 shown in FIG. 2a to form the truncated signal st2from the original target signal si2, the target signal si2 may becompressed, so the truncated signal st2 may carry the desired signal(s)of the signal si2 with fewer bits per sample and/or lower throughput.Generally, signal processing of the utility circuit 240 may include afundamental building portion for calculating a weighted sum of samplesx[n−M] to x[n] (with M an integer) of a signal x, such as buildingportions 240 b and 240 c shown in FIGS. 2b and 2c , which may includemultiple delay blocks 242, multiplication blocks 244 and sum blocks 246for calculating c[0]*x[n]+ . . . +c[M]*x[n−M]. If the signal x is asignal of more bits per sample x[n], such as the original target signalsi2, then each of the delay block 242, the multiplication block 244 andsum block 246 will demand more system resources, such as larger layoutarea for more complicated circuitry, and higher power consumption, etc.On the other hand, if the signal x is a signal of fewer bits per sample,such as the truncated signal st2, then each of the delay block 242, themultiplication block 244 and sum block 246 will require less systemresources. Thus, it is understood that, by arranging the modulator 210,the filter circuit 220 and the magnitude bit truncation circuit 230 tocompress the target signal si2 to the truncated signal st2 of fewer bitsnumber per sample and/or lower throughput, the system 200 mayeffectively reduce system resources for implementing signal processingof the utility circuit 240.

In the system 200 (FIG. 2a ), the utility circuit 240 may process thetruncated signal st2 to form a handled signal sh2. The inverse filtercircuit 250 may be coupled to the utility circuit 240, for applying aninverse filtering transfer function H⁻¹(z) to the handled signal sh2 toform an inverse-filtered signal sif2, wherein the inverse filteringtransfer function H⁻¹(z) may be a reciprocal of the transfer functionH(z) of the filter circuit 220 (at least) at the interested band(s);e.g., H(z)*H⁻¹(z)=1 at the interested band(s).

The demodulator 260 may be coupled to the inverse filter circuit 250,for demodulating the signal sif2 to form a demodulated signal sdm2 as aresult of processing the target signal si2. Demodulation of thedemodulator 260 may be an inverse operation of the modulation performedby the modulator 210. For example, in an embodiment, the modulator 210may be a sigma-delta modulator, and the demodulator 260 may include adecimator and a noise filter (both not shown) for respectivelyperforming decimation and filtering of quantization noise on the signalsif2.

Please refer to FIG. 3 illustrating a system 300 according to anembodiment of the invention. The system 300 may include a compressioncircuitry 370, a utility circuit 340 and an inverse filter circuit 350.The compression circuitry 370 may include a filter circuit 320 of atransfer function H(z), and a magnitude bit truncation circuit 330. Thesystem 300 may improve handling, e.g., transmission, of a target signalsi3. The target signal si3 may contain desired signal(s) at one or moreinterested bands.

The filter circuit 320 may be coupled to the target signal si3, forattenuating each interested band to form a filtered signal sf3. In anembodiment, the interested band(s) may be low-pass band(s), and thefilter circuit 320 may therefore be a digital difference encoder (e.g.,the encoder 120 b in FIG. 1d ) with a transfer functionH(z)=1−z{circumflex over ( )}(−1), for attenuating each said interestedband by differential operation; e.g., the filter circuit 320 may bearranged to calculate an n-th sample sf3[n] of the signal sf3 bysubtracting an (n−1)-th sample si3[n−1] from an n-th sample si3[n] ofthe signal si3.

Generally, in an embodiment with desired signal(s) at low-passinterested band(s), the filter circuit 320 may be arranged to have ahigh-pass frequency response; in an embodiment with desired signal(s) athigh-pass interested band(s), the filter circuit 320 may be arranged tohave a low-pass frequency response; and, in an embodiment with desiredsignal(s) at band-pass interested band(s), the filter circuit 320 may bearranged to have a band-rejection frequency response. For example, asshown in FIG. 1f , in an embodiment with desired signals at multipleinterested bands (e.g., Bi1 and Bi2), a frequency response (i.e., thetransfer function H(z)) of the filter circuit 320 may be arranged tohave multiple notches at the multiple interested bands (e.g., Bi1 andBi2).

The magnitude bit truncation circuit 330 may be coupled to the filtercircuit 320, for truncating one or more bits of each sample sf3[n] ofthe filtered signal sf3 to form each sample st3[n] of a truncated signalst3, such that number of bits per sample of the truncated signal st3 maybe fewer than number of bits per sample of the filtered signal sf3.While each sample sf3[n] of the signal sf3 may be a signed value eitherequal to a positive value+|sf3[n]| or a negative value −|sf3[n]|, themagnitude bit truncation circuit 330 may truncate one or more bits fromthe bits representing the magnitude |sf3[n]|.

The utility circuit 340 may be coupled to the magnitude bit truncationcircuit 330, for transmitting the truncated signal st3 to implementtransmission of the target signal si3, so as to reduce resource demandsand enhance error tolerance comparing with directly transmitting thetarget signal si3. In other words, comparing with directly transmittingthe target signal si3, transmitting the truncated signal st3 resultingfrom collaboration of the filter circuit 320 and the magnitude bittruncation circuit 330 may require less system resources (e.g., layoutarea, power, gate count, time, and/or pin count, etc.), and be moretolerable to bit error occurred during transmission. By cascading thefilter circuit 320 and the magnitude bit truncation circuit 330 to formthe truncated signal st3 from the original target signal si3, the signalsi3 may be compressed, so the truncated signal st3 may carry the desiredsignal(s) of the signal si3 with fewer bits per sample and/or lowerthroughput.

Similar to the utility circuit 140 in FIG. 1a , the utility circuit 340in FIG. 3 may comprise two digital physical layer circuits 342 and 344respectively for transmitting and receiving the truncated signal st3across different semiconductor chips. In other words, the system 300 mayhave two portions 302 and 304 respectively formed on two differentsemiconductor chips (dice). The portion 302 may include the filtercircuit 320, the magnitude bit truncation circuit 330 and the digitalphysical layer circuits 342; on the other hand, the portion 304 mayinclude the digital physical layer circuits 344 and the inverse filtercircuit 350. The digital physical layer circuits 342 and 344 may becoupled via a serialized channel. The digital physical layer circuit 342may organize samples of the truncated signal st3 to packets by attachingproper headers and trailers, and transmitting the packets to the digitalphysical layer circuit 344. When receiving the packets, the digitalphysical layer circuit 344 may extract samples of the truncated signalst3 from the packets to form a handled signal sh3. Because the digitalphysical layer circuits 342 and 344 are designed for transmitting andreceiving the truncated signal st3 instead of the target signal si3, thedigital physical layer circuits 342 and 344 may be formed by hardware oflower complexity and smaller layout area, with less power consumptionand stronger robustness against bit error.

The inverse filter circuit 350 may be coupled to the digital physicallayer circuit 344 of the utility circuit 340, for applying an inversefiltering transfer function H⁻¹(z) to the handled signal sh3 to form aninverse-filtered signal sif3, wherein the inverse filtering transferfunction H⁻¹(z) may be a reciprocal of the transfer function H(z) of thefilter circuit 320 (at least) at the interested band(s); e.g.,H(z)*H⁻¹(z)=1 at the interested band(s). Thus, the signal sif3 may beregarded as a result of transmitting the original target signal si3, andthe purpose of transmitting the signal si3 from the portions 302 to 304may be achieved by actually transmitting the signal st3 of fewer bitsper sample and/or lower throughput.

Please refer to FIG. 4 illustrating a system 400 according to anembodiment of the invention. Similar to the system 300 shown in FIG. 3,the system 400 in FIG. 4 may include a compression circuitry 470, autility circuit 440 and an inverse filter circuit 450. The compressioncircuitry 470 may include a filter circuit 420 and a magnitude bittruncation circuit 430. The system 400 may improve handling, e.g.,processing, of a target signal si4. The target signal si4 may containdesired signal(s) at one or more interested bands.

The filter circuit 420 may be coupled to the signal si4, for attenuatingeach interested band to form a filtered signal sf4. In an embodiment,the interested band(s) may be low-pass band(s), and the filter circuit420 may therefore be a digital difference encoder (e.g., the encoder 120b in FIG. 1d ) with a transfer function H(z)=1−z{circumflex over( )}(−1), for attenuating each said interested band by differentialoperation.

Generally, in an embodiment with desired signal(s) at low-passinterested band(s), the filter circuit 420 may be arranged to have ahigh-pass frequency response; in an embodiment with desired signal(s) athigh-pass interested band(s), the filter circuit 420 may be arranged tohave a low-pass frequency response; and, in an embodiment with desiredsignal(s) at band-pass interested band(s), the filter circuit 420 may bearranged to have a band-rejection frequency response. For example, asshown in FIG. 1f , in an embodiment with desired signals at multipleinterested bands (e.g., Bi1 and Bi2), a frequency response (i.e., thetransfer function H(z)) of the filter circuit 420 may be arranged tohave multiple notches at the multiple interested bands (e.g., Bi1 andBi2).

The magnitude bit truncation circuit 430 may be coupled to the filtercircuit 420, for truncating one or more bits of each sample sf4[n] ofthe filtered signal sf4 to form each sample st4[n] of a truncated signalst4, such that number of bits per sample of the truncated signal st4 maybe fewer than number of bits per sample of the filtered signal sf4.While each sample sf4[n] of the signal sf4 may be a signed value eitherequal to a positive value+|sf4[n]| or a negative value −|sf4[n]|, themagnitude bit truncation circuit 430 may truncate one or more bits fromthe bits representing the magnitude |sf4[n]|.

The utility circuit 440 may be a digital signal processor coupled to themagnitude bit truncation circuit 430, for processing the truncatedsignal st4 to implement processing of the target signal si4, so as toreduce resource demands and enhance tolerance of error and/or faultcomparing with directly processing the target signal si4. In otherwords, comparing with directly processing the target signal si4,processing the truncated signal st4 resulting from collaboration of thefilter circuit 420 and the magnitude bit truncation circuit 430 mayrequire less system resources (e.g., layout area, power, gate count,time, and/or pin count, etc.), and be more tolerable to bit error and/orfault occurred during processing.

Generally, signal processing of the utility circuit 440 may include afundamental building portion for calculating a weighted sum of samplesx[n−M] to x[n] (with M an integer) of a signal x, such as the buildingportions 240 b and 240 c shown in FIGS. 2b and 2c , which may includemultiple delay blocks 242, multiplication blocks 244 and sum blocks 246for calculating c[0]*x[n]+ . . . +c[M]*x[n−M]. If the signal x is asignal of more bits per sample, such as the original target signal si4,then each of the delay block 242, the multiplication block 244 and sumblock 246 will demand more system resources, such as larger layout areafor more complicated circuitry, higher power consumption, etc. On theother hand, if the signal x is a signal of fewer bits per sample, suchas the truncated signal st4, each of the delay block 242, themultiplication block 244 and sum block 246 will require less systemresources. Thus, it is understood that, by arranging the filter circuit420 and the magnitude bit truncation circuit 430 to compress theoriginal target signal si4 to the truncated signal st4 of fewer bits persample and/or lower throughput, the system 400 may effectively reducesystem resources for signal processing of the utility circuit 440.

The utility circuit 440 may process the truncated signal st4 to form ahandled signal sh4. The inverse filter circuit 450 may be coupled to theutility circuit 440, for applying an inverse filtering transfer functionH⁻¹(z) to the handled signal sh4 to form an inverse-filtered signalsif4, wherein the inverse filtering transfer function H⁻¹(z) may be areciprocal of the transfer function H(z) of the filter circuit 420 (atleast) at the interested band(s); e.g., H(z)*H⁻¹(z)=1 at the interestedband(s). Thus, the signal sif4 may be regarded as a result of processingthe original target signal si4, and the purpose of processing the signalsi4 may be achieved by actually processing the signal st4 of fewer bitsper sample and/or lower throughput.

Please refer to FIG. 5 illustrating a system 500 according to anembodiment of the invention. The system 500 may include a compressioncircuitry 570 and a utility circuit 540. The compression circuitry 570may include a sigma-delta modulator 510. The system 500 may improvehandling, e.g., transmission, of a target signal si5. The target signalsi5 may contain desired signal(s) at one or more interested bands.

The sigma-delta modulator 510 may be coupled to the target signal si5,for modulating the target signal si5 to a sigma-delta modulated signalsm5 by sigma-delta modulation. In an embodiment, the sigma-deltamodulator 510 may be a one-bit sigma-delta modulator, so the modulatedsignal sm5 may be a digital signal of one bit per sample; i.e., numberof bits per sample of the sigma-delta modulated signal sm5 may equalone. In another embodiment, the sigma-delta modulator 510 may be amulti-bit sigma-delta modulator, so the modulated signal sm5 may be adigital signal of multiple bits per sample; i.e., number of bits persample of the sigma-delta modulated signal sm5 may be greater than one.

In an embodiment, the target signal si5 may be an analog signal of aninfinitesimal quantization resolution, and the sigma-delta modulator 510may modulate the signal si5 to a digital signal sm5 of a finitequantization resolution. For example, the sigma-delta modulator 510 maybe implemented by the modulator 110 b shown in FIG. 1b , with thesignals x and y in FIG. 1b respectively being the signals si5 and sm5 inFIG. 5, and the quantizer 116 being a one-bit quantizer for one-bitsigma-delta modulation, or a multi-bit quantizer for multi-bitsigma-delta modulation.

In an embodiment, the target signal si5 may be a digital signal of afiner quantization resolution, and the sigma-delta modulator 510 maymodulate the signal si5 to a digital signal sm5 of a rougherquantization resolution, such that number of bits per sample of themodulated signal sm5 may be fewer than number of bits per sample of thetarget signal si5. For example, the sigma-delta modulator 510 may beimplemented by the modulator 110 c shown in FIG. 1c , with the signals xand y in FIG. 1c respectively being the signals si5 and sm5 in FIG. 5,and the quantizer 117 being a one-bit quantizer for one-bit sigma-deltamodulation or a multi-bit quantizer for multi-bit sigma-deltamodulation.

By the sigma-delta modulator 510 in FIG. 5, the target signal si5 may bemodulated to the modulated signal sm5 of fewer bits per sample and/orlower throughput. The utility circuit 540 may be coupled to thesigma-delta modulator 510, for transmitting the sigma-delta modulatedsignal sm5 to implement transmission of the target signal si5, so as toreduce resource requirement and enhance error tolerance comparing withdirectly transmitting the target signal si5. In other words, comparingwith directly transmitting the target signal si5, transmitting thesigma-delta modulated signal sm5 may require less system resources(e.g., layout area, power, gate count, time, and/or pin count, etc.),and be more tolerable to bit error and/or fault occurred duringtransmission.

Similar to the utility circuit 140 or 340 in FIG. 1a or 3 a, the utilitycircuit 540 in FIG. 5 may comprise two digital physical layer circuits542 and 544 respectively for transmitting and receiving the sigma-deltamodulated signal sm5 across different semiconductor chips. In otherwords, the system 500 may have two portions 502 and 504 respectivelyformed on two different semiconductor chips (dice). The portion 502 mayinclude the sigma-delta modulator 510 and the digital physical layercircuit 542; on the other hand, the portion 504 may include the digitalphysical layer circuits 544. The digital physical layer circuits 542 and544 may be coupled via a serialized channel. The digital physical layercircuit 542 may organize samples of the modulated signal sm5 intopackets by attaching proper headers and trailers, and transmitting thepackets to the digital physical layer circuit 544. When receiving thepackets, the digital physical layer circuit 544 may extract samples ofthe signal sm5 from the packets to form a handled signal sh5. Becausethe digital physical layer circuits 542 and 544 are designed fortransmitting and receiving the sigma-delta modulated signal sm5 insteadof the target signal si5, the digital physical layer circuits 542 and544 may be formed by hardware of lower complexity and smaller layoutarea, with less power consumption and stronger robustness against biterror.

For example, by sigma-delta modulating the signal si5 to a one-bitdigital signal sm5 and transmitting the modulated signal sm5 instead ofthe original signal si5, DC (direct-current) balance issue duringtransmission may be addressed; in addition, overhead of conventional 8b/10 b encoding (or similar encoding) may be relaxed. If the signal si5is directly transmitted, conventionally, the signal si5 needs to beencoded by 8 b/10 b encoding for balancing occurrences of binary 0 and1, and ensuring sufficient number of transitions between binary 0 and 1per unit time. However, 8 b/10 b encoding will increase throughput, andtherefore decrease efficiency of signal transmission. On the contrary,by sigma-delta modulating the signal si5 to the signal sm5 andtransmitting the signal sm5 instead of the signal si5, the system 500according to the invention may not need 8b/10 b encoding (or similarencoding), and may hence reduce throughput and system resourcescomparing to directly transmitting the signal si5, since sigma-deltamodulation may cause the modulated signal sm5 to frequently transitbetween binary 0 and 1; even if the signal si5 remains constant forseveral sampling cycles, resultant samples of the sigma-delta modulatedsignal sm5 will be rapidly varying (e.g., alternating between binary 0and 1), and therefore satisfy balance and transition requirements.Similar to the system 100 shown in FIG. 1a , the system 500 in FIG. 5may further include a demodulator (not shown) coupled to the digitalphysical layer circuit 544, for demodulating the signal sh5 to recoverthe signal si5 in the portion 504.

Please refer to FIG. 6 illustrating a system 600 according to anembodiment of the invention. The system 600 may include a compressioncircuitry 670 and a utility circuit 640. The compression circuitry 670may include a sigma-delta modulator 610. The system 600 may improvehandling, e.g., processing, of a target signal si6. The target signalsi6 may contain desired signal(s) at one or more interested bands.

The sigma-delta modulator 610 may be coupled to the target signal si6,for modulating the target signal si6 to a sigma-delta modulated signalsm6 by sigma-delta modulation. In an embodiment, the sigma-deltamodulator 610 may be a one-bit sigma-delta modulator, so the modulatedsignal sm6 may be a digital signal of single bit per sample. In anotherembodiment, the sigma-delta modulator 610 may be a multi-bit sigma-deltamodulator, so the modulated signal sm6 may be a digital signal ofmultiple bits per sample.

In an embodiment, the target signal si6 may be an analog signal of aninfinitesimal quantization resolution, and the sigma-delta modulator 610may modulate the signal si6 to a digital signal sm6 of a rougher(finite) quantization resolution. For example, the sigma-delta modulator610 may be implemented by the modulator 110 b shown in FIG. 1b , withthe signals x and y in FIG. 1b respectively being the signals si6 andsm6 in FIG. 6, and the quantizer 116 being a one-bit quantizer forone-bit sigma-delta modulation, or a multi-bit quantizer for multi-bitsigma-delta modulation.

In an embodiment, the target signal si6 may be a digital signal of afiner quantization resolution, and the sigma-delta modulator 610 maymodulate the signal si6 to a digital signal sm6 of a rougherquantization resolution, such that number of bits per sample of themodulated signal sm6 may be fewer than number of bits per sample of thetarget signal si6. For example, the sigma-delta modulator 610 may beimplemented by the modulator 110 c shown in FIG. 1c , with the signals xand y in FIG. 1c respectively being the signals si6 and sm6 in FIG. 6,and the quantizer 117 being a one-bit quantizer for one-bit sigma-deltamodulation or a multi-bit quantizer for multi-bit sigma-deltamodulation.

By the sigma-delta modulator 610 in FIG. 6, the target signal si6 may bemodulated to the modulated signal sm6 of fewer bits per sample and/orlower throughput. The utility circuit 640 may be a digital signalprocessor coupled to the sigma-delta modulator 610, for processing thesigma-delta modulated signal sm6 to a handled signal sh6, so as toimplement processing of the target signal si6. Comparing with directlyprocessing the target signal si6, processing the sigma-delta modulatedsignal sm6 may require less system resources (e.g., layout area, power,gate count, time, and/or pin count, etc.), and be more tolerable to biterror and/or fault occurred during processing.

Generally, signal processing of the utility circuit 640 may include afundamental building portion for calculating a weighted sum of samplesx[n−M] to x[n] (with M an integer) of a signal x, such as buildingportions 240 b and 240 c shown in FIGS. 2b and 2c , which may includeone or more delay blocks 242, one or more multiplication blocks 244 andone or more sum blocks 246 for calculating c[0]*x[n]+ . . .+c[M]*x[n−M]. If the signal x is a signal of more bits per sample, suchas the original target signal si6, then each of the delay block 242, themultiplication block 244 and sum block 246 will demand more systemresources, such as larger layout area for more complicated circuitry,higher power consumption, etc. On the other hand, if the signal x is asignal of fewer bits per sample, such as the modulated signal sm6, eachof the delay block 242, the multiplication block 244 and sum block 246will require less system resources. Thus, it is understood that, becausethe sigma-delta modulator 610 may compress the original target signalsi6 to the modulated signal sm6 of fewer bits per sample and/or lowerthroughput, the system 600 may effectively reduce system resources forsignal processing of the utility circuit 640. Similar to the system 200shown in FIG. 2a , the system 600 in FIG. 6 may further include ademodulator (not shown) coupled to the utility circuit 640, fordemodulating the signal sh6 to a demodulated signal as a result ofprocessing the signal si6.

Please refer to FIG. 7 illustrating a system 700 according to anembodiment of the invention. The system 700 may include a compressioncircuitry 770, a utility circuit 740 and an inverse filter circuit 750.The compression circuitry 770 may include a modified modulator 710 and amagnitude bit truncation circuit 730. The system 700 may improvehandling, e.g., transmission, of a target signal si7. The target signalsi7 may contain desired signal(s) at one or more interested bands.

The modified modulator 710 may be coupled to the signal si7, formodulating the target signal si7 to a modulated signal sm7 by a modifiedsignal transfer function STF_(M)(z) and a modified noise transferfunction NTF_(M)(z). The modified signal transfer function STF_(M)(z)may be a multiplication of an intrinsic signal transfer function STF(z)and a filter transfer function H(z); e.g., STF_(M)(z)=STF(z)*H(z). Themodified noise transfer function NTF_(M)(z) may be a multiplication ofan intrinsic noise transfer function NTF(z) and the filter transferfunction H(z); e.g., NTF_(M)(z)=NTF(z)*H(z). The intrinsic signaltransfer function STF(z) may pass the one or more interested bands ofthe desired signal(s), the intrinsic noise transfer function NTF(z) mayshape noise away from the one or more interested bands. The filtertransfer function H(z) may attenuate each said interested band.

Along with FIGS. 1a, 2a , 5 and 6, please refer to FIG. 9a illustratinga modulator 910 a according to an embodiment of the invention. Themodulator 110 or 210 in FIG. 1a or 2 a may be modeled as the modulator910 a shown in FIG. 9a . In FIG. 9a , the modulator 910 a may modulate asignal x to a signal y; to implement the modulator 110/210 in FIG. 1a /2a, the signal x in FIG. 9a may be the signal si1 or si2 in FIG. 1a or 2a, and the signal y in FIG. 9a may be the signal sm1 or sm2 in FIG. 1aor 2 a. In FIG. 9a , the modulator 910 a may include a sum block 912, adigital loop filter 914 of a transfer function L1 (z), a quantizer 916and a feedback filter 918 of a transfer function B1(z). The sum block912 may form a signal x1 by subtracting a signal y1 from the signal x,the loop filter 914 and the quantizer 916 may filter and quantize thesignal x1 to form the signal y, and the feedback filter 918 may filterthe signal y to the signal y1. Quantization operation of the quantizer916 may introduce noise Q; thus a z-transform Y(z) of the output signaly may be expressed as: Y(z)={L1(z)/(1+B1(z))}*X(z)+{1/(1+B1(z))}*Q(z),with X(z) and Q(z) respectively being z-transform of the signal x andthe noise Q. The term L1(z)/(1+B1(z)) applied to the signal X(z) maytherefore be defined as the intrinsic signal transfer function STF(z),and the term 1/(1+B1(z)) applied to the noise Q(z) may be defined as theintrinsic noise transfer function NTF(z).

Along with FIG. 7, please refer to FIG. 9b illustrating a modulator 910b according to an embodiment of the invention. The modified modulator710 in FIG. 7 may be modeled as the modulator 910 b shown in FIG. 9b .In FIG. 9b , the modulator 910 b may modulate a signal x to a signal y;to implement the modified modulator 710 in FIG. 7, the signals x and yin FIG. 9b may respectively be the signals si7 and sm7 in FIG. 7. InFIG. 9b , the modulator 910 b may include a sum block 922, a loop filter924 of a transfer function L2(z), a quantizer 926 and a feedback filter928 of a transfer function B2(z). The sum block 922 may form a signal x2by subtracting a signal y2 from the signal x, the loop filter 924 andthe quantizer 926 may filter and quantize the signal x2 to form thesignal y, and the feedback filter 928 may filter the signal y to thesignal y2. Quantization operation of the quantizer 926 may introducenoise Q; thus a z-transform Y(z) of the output signal y may be expressedas: Y(z)={L2(z)/(1+B2(z))}*X(z)+{1/(1+B2(z))}*Q(z), with X(z) and Q(z)respectively being z-transform of the signal x and the noise Q. The termL2(z)/(1+B2(z)) applied to the signal X(z) may be the modified signaltransfer function STF_(M)(z), and the term 1/(1+B2(z)) applied to thenoise Q(z) may be the modified noise transfer function NTF_(M)(z).

Comparing to the modulator 900 a in FIG. 9a , the transfer functionsB2(z) and/or L2(z) of the modulator 900 b in FIG. 9b may be modified tobe different from the transfer functions L1(z) and/or B1(z), such thatthe modified signal transfer function STF_(M)(z) may equal themultiplication STF(z)*H(z) of the intrinsic signal transfer functionSTF(z) and the filter transfer function H(z), and the modified noisetransfer function NTF_(M)(z) may equal the multiplication NTF(z)*H(z) ofthe intrinsic noise transfer function NTF(z) and the filter transferfunction H(z).

In other words, though the modified modulator 710 in FIG. 7 may beimplemented by an architecture similar to, e.g., the modulator 110 inFIG. 1a , the modified modulator 710 in FIG. 7 may function as a cascadeof the modulator 110 and the filter circuit 120 in FIG. 1a , such thatboth the signal X(z) and the noise Q(z) may additionally experiencefiltering of the filter transfer function H(z) (e.g., attenuation ateach interested band).

For example, in an embodiment, the interested band(s) may be low-passband(s), and the filter transfer function H(z) may be arranged toattenuate each interested band by differential operation; e.g.,H(z)=1−z{circumflex over ( )}(−1). More generally, in an embodiment withdesired signal(s) at low-pass interested band(s), the filter transferfunction H(z) may be arranged to have a high-pass frequency response; inan embodiment with desired signal(s) at high-pass interested band(s),the filter transfer function H(z) may be arranged to have a low-passfrequency response; and, in an embodiment with desired signal(s) atband-pass interested band(s), the filter transfer function H(z) may bearranged to have a band-rejection frequency response. For example, asshown in FIG. 1f , in an embodiment with desired signals at multipleinterested bands (e.g., Bi1 and Bi2), a frequency response of the filtertransfer function H(z) may be arranged to have multiple notches at themultiple interested bands (e.g., Bi1 and Bi2).

In the system 700 shown in FIG. 7, the magnitude bit truncation circuit730 may be coupled to the modulator 710, for truncating one or more bitsof each sample sm7[n] of the modulated signal sm7 to form each samplest7[n] of a truncated signal st7, such that number of bits per sample ofthe truncated signal st7 may be fewer than number of bits per sample ofthe modulated signal sm7. While each sample sm7[n] of the signal sm7 maybe a signed value either equal to a positive value+|sm7[n]| or anegative value −|sm7[n]|, the magnitude bit truncation circuit 730 maytruncate bit(s) from the bits representing the magnitude |sm7[n]|.

By cascading the modified modulator 710 and the magnitude bit truncationcircuit 730 to form the truncated signal st7 from the original targetsignal si7, the original target signal si7 may be compressed, so thetruncated signal st7 may carry the desired signal(s) of the signal si7with fewer bits per sample and/or less throughput.

The utility circuit 740 may be coupled to the magnitude bit truncationcircuit 730, for transmitting the truncated signal st7 to implementtransmission of the target signal si7, so as to reduce resource demandsand enhance error tolerance comparing with directly transmitting thetarget signal si7. In other words, comparing with directly transmittingthe target signal si7, transmitting the truncated signal st7 resultingfrom collaboration of the modified modulator 710 and the magnitude bittruncation circuit 730 may require less resources (e.g., layout area,power, gate count, time, and/or pin count, etc.), and be more tolerableto bit error occurred during transmission.

Similar to the utility circuit 140 in FIG. 1a , the utility circuit 740in FIG. 7 may comprise two digital physical layer circuits 742 and 744respectively for transmitting and receiving the truncated signal st7across different semiconductor chips. In other words, the system 700 mayhave two portions 702 and 704 respectively formed on two differentsemiconductor chips (dice). The portion 702 may include the modifiedmodulator 710, the magnitude bit truncation circuit 730 and the digitalphysical layer circuits 742; on the other hand, the portion 704 mayinclude the digital physical layer circuits 744 and the inverse filtercircuit 750. The digital physical layer circuits 742 and 744 may becoupled via a serialized channel. The digital physical layer circuit 742may organize samples of the truncated signal st7 into packets byattaching proper headers and trailers, and transmitting the packets tothe digital physical layer circuit 744. When receiving the packets, thedigital physical layer circuit 744 may extract samples of the truncatedsignal st7 from the packets to form a handled signal sh7. Because thedigital physical layer circuits 742 and 744 are designed fortransmitting and receiving the truncated signal st7 instead of thetarget signal si7, the digital physical layer circuits 742 and 744 maybe formed by hardware of lower complexity and smaller layout area, withless power consumption and stronger robustness against bit error.

The inverse filter circuit 750 may be coupled to the digital physicallayer circuit 744 of the utility circuit 740, for applying an inversefiltering transfer function H⁻¹(z) to the handled signal sh7 to form aninverse-filtered signal sif7, wherein the inverse filtering transferfunction H⁻¹(z) may be a reciprocal of the filter transfer function H(z)(at least) at the interested band(s); e.g., H⁻¹(z)*H(z)=1 at theinterested band(s). Similar to the system 100 shown in FIG. 1a , thesystem 700 in FIG. 7 may further include a demodulator (not shown)coupled to the inverse filter circuit 750, for demodulating the signalsh7 to recover the signal si7 in the portion 704.

Please refer to FIG. 8 illustrating a system 800 according to anembodiment of the invention. Similar to the system 700 in FIG. 7, thesystem 800 in FIG. 8 may include a compression circuitry 870, a utilitycircuit 840 and an inverse filter circuit 850. The compression circuitry870 may include a modified modulator 810 and a magnitude bit truncationcircuit 830. The system 800 may improve handling, e.g., processing, of atarget signal si8. The target signal si8 may contain desired signal(s)at one or more interested bands.

The modified modulator 810 may be coupled to the signal si8, formodulating the target signal si8 to a modulated signal sm8 by a modifiedsignal transfer function STF_(M)(z) and a modified noise transferfunction NTF_(M)(z). The modified signal transfer function STF_(M)(z)may be a multiplication of an intrinsic signal transfer function STF(z)and a filter transfer function H(z); e.g., STF_(M)(z)=STF(z)*H(z). Themodified noise transfer function NTF_(M)(z) may be a multiplication ofan intrinsic noise transfer function NTF(z) and the filter transferfunction H(z); e.g., NTF_(M)(z)=NTF(z)*H(z). The intrinsic signaltransfer function STF(z) may pass the one or more interested bands ofthe desired signal(s), the intrinsic noise transfer function NTF(z) mayshape noise away from the one or more interested bands. The filtertransfer function H(z) may attenuate each said interested band. Similarto the modified modulator 710 in FIG. 7, the modified modulator 810 inFIG. 8 may be implemented by the modulator 910 b shown in FIG. 9b , withthe signals x and y in FIG. 9b being the signals si8 and sm8 in FIG. 8.

For example, in an embodiment, the interested band(s) may be low-passband(s), and the filter transfer function H(z) may be arranged toattenuate each interested band by differential operation; e.g.,H(z)=1−z{circumflex over ( )}(−1). More generally, in an embodiment withdesired signal(s) at low-pass interested band(s), the filter transferfunction H(z) may be arranged to have a high-pass frequency response; inan embodiment with desired signal(s) at high-pass interested band(s),the filter transfer function H(z) may be arranged to have a low-passfrequency response; and, in an embodiment with desired signal(s) atband-pass interested band(s), the filter transfer function H(z) may bearranged to have a band-rejection frequency response. For example, asshown in FIG. 1f , in an embodiment with desired signals at multipleinterested bands (e.g., Bi1 and Bi2), a frequency response of the filtertransfer function H(z) may be arranged to have multiple notches at themultiple interested bands (e.g., Bi1 and Bi2).

In the system 800 shown in FIG. 8, the magnitude bit truncation circuit830 may be coupled to the modulator 810, for truncating one or more bitsof each sample sm8[n] of the modulated signal sm8 to form each samplest8[n] of a truncated signal st8, such that number of bits per sample ofthe truncated signal st8 may be fewer than number of bits per sample ofthe modulated signal sm8. While each sample sm8[n] of the signal sm8 maybe a signed value either equal to a positive value+|sm8[n]| or anegative value −|sm8[n]|, the magnitude bit truncation circuit 830 maytruncate bit(s) from the bits representing the magnitude |sm8[n]|.

By cascading the modified modulator 810 and the magnitude bit truncationcircuit 830 to form the truncated signal st8 from the original targetsignal si8, the target signal si8 may be compressed, so the truncatedsignal st8 may carry the desired signal(s) of the target signal si8 withfewer bits per sample and/or less throughput.

Similar to the utility circuit 240 or 440 shown in FIG. 2a or 4, theutility circuit 840 in FIG. 8 may be a digital signal processor coupledto the magnitude bit truncation circuit 830, for processing thetruncated signal st8 to a handled signal sh8, so as to implementprocessing of the target signal si8. Comparing with directly processingthe target signal si8, processing the sigma-delta modulated signal st8may require less system resources (e.g., layout area, power, gate count,time, and/or pin count, etc.), and be more tolerable to bit error and/orfault occurred during processing.

The inverse filter circuit 850 may be coupled to the utility circuit840, for applying an inverse filtering transfer function H⁻¹(z) to thehandled signal sh8 to form an inverse-filtered signal sif8, wherein theinverse filtering transfer function H⁻¹(z) may be a reciprocal of thefilter transfer function H(z) (at least) at the interested band(s);e.g., H⁻¹(z)*H(z)=1 at the interested band(s). Similar to the system 200shown in FIG. 2a , the system 800 in FIG. 8 may further include ademodulator (not shown) coupled to the inverse filter circuit 850, fordemodulating the signal sh8 to obtain a demodulated signal as a resultof processing the target signal si8.

To sum up, the invention may improve handling of a target signal, e.g.,reducing resource requirement and/or enhancing robustness against biterror and/or fault of transmitting and/or processing the target signal,by compressing the target signal to a compressed signal of fewer bitsper sample and/or lower throughput, and handling the compressed signalinstead of the target signal. According to the invention, thecompression may be achieved by a compression circuitry, which mayinclude at least one of the following circuits: a modulator formodulating signal to a rougher quantization resolution, a filter circuitfor attenuating interested band(s) of desired signal(s), and a magnitudebit truncation circuit for truncating bit(s) per sample.

While the invention has been described in terms of what is presentlyconsidered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is tobe understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosedembodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover variousmodifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadestinterpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similarstructures.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A system improving signal handling, comprising: amodified modulator coupled to a target signal, for modulating the targetsignal to a modulated signal by a modified signal transfer function anda modified noise transfer function; a magnitude bit truncation circuitcoupled to the modified modulator, for truncating one or more bits ofeach sample of the modulated signal to form a truncated signal; and autility circuit coupled to the magnitude bit truncation circuit, forhandling the truncated signal to implement handling of the targetsignal, so as to reduce resource requirement and enhance error tolerancecomparing with directly handling the target signal; wherein: the targetsignal contains one or more desired signals at one or more bands ofinterest, the modified signal transfer function is a multiplication ofan intrinsic signal transfer function and a filter transfer function,the modified noise transfer function is a multiplication of an intrinsicnoise transfer function and the filter transfer function, the intrinsicsignal transfer function passes the one or more bands of interest, theintrinsic noise transfer function shapes noise away from the one or morebands of interest, and the filter transfer function attenuates each ofthe one or more bands of interest.
 22. The system of claim 21, whereinthe utility circuit comprises a digital physical layer circuit fortransmitting the truncated signal across different semiconductor chipsto implement transmission of the target signal.
 23. The system of claim21, wherein the utility circuit is a digital signal processor forprocessing the truncated signal to implement processing of the targetsignal.
 24. The system of claim 21, wherein the utility circuit handlesthe truncated signal to form a handled signal, and the system furthercomprising: an inverse filter circuit for applying an inverse filteringtransfer function to the handled signal, wherein the inverse filteringtransfer function is a reciprocal of the filter transfer function ateach said one or more bands of interest.
 25. The system of claim 21,wherein the filter transfer function is arranged to attenuate each saidone or more bands of interest by differential operation.
 26. The systemof claim 21, wherein the filter transfer function has a low-passfrequency response.
 27. The system of claim 21, wherein the filtertransfer function has a band-rejection frequency response.
 28. Thesystem of claim 21, wherein the filter transfer function has a pluralityof notches at the one or more bands of interest.
 29. The system of claim21, wherein the utility circuit is a digital signal processor forprocessing the truncated signal to implement processing of the targetsignal.
 30. A method for improving signal handling, comprising:modulating a target signal, containing one or more desired signals atone or more bands of interest, with a modified signal transfer functionand a modified noise transfer function to form a modulated signal,wherein: the modified signal transfer function is a multiplication of anintrinsic transfer function and a filter transfer function; the modifiednoise transfer function is a multiplication of an intrinsic noisetransfer function and the filter transfer function; the intrinsic signaltransfer function passes the one or more bands of interest; and thefilter transfer function attenuates each of the one or more bands ofinterest; truncating one or more bits of each sample of the modulatedsignal to form a truncated signal; and handling the truncated signal toimplement handling of the target signal.
 31. The method of claim 30,wherein handling the truncated signal comprises transmitting thetruncated signal across different semiconductor chips to implementtransmission of the target signal.
 32. The method of claim 30, whereinhandling the truncated signal to implement handling of the target signalfurther comprises applying an inverse filtering transfer function to thehandled signal, wherein the inverse filtering transfer function is areciprocal of the filter transfer function at each of the one or morebands of interest.
 33. The method of claim 30, wherein truncating one ormore bits of each sample comprises truncating bits representing amagnitude.
 34. The method of claim 30, wherein the filter transferfunction attenuates each of the one or more bands of interest bydifferential operation.
 35. A system improving signal handling,comprising: a modified modulator coupled to a target signal, thatmodulates the target signal according to a modified signal transferfunction and a modified noise transfer function, to form a modulatedsignal; a magnitude bit truncation circuit coupled to the modifiedmodulator that truncates the modulated signal to form a truncatedsignal; and a utility circuit coupled to the magnitude bit truncationcircuit; wherein: the target signal contains one or more desired signalsat one or more bands of interest, the modified signal transfer functionis a multiplication of an intrinsic signal transfer function and afilter transfer function, and the modified noise transfer function is amultiplication of an intrinsic noise transfer function and the filtertransfer function.
 36. The system of claim 35, wherein: the intrinsicsignal transfer function passes the one or more bands of interest, theintrinsic noise transfer function shapes noise away from the one or morebands of interest, and the filter transfer function attenuates the oneor more bands of interest.
 37. The system of claim 35, wherein theutility circuit comprises a digital physical layer circuit fortransmitting the truncated signal across different semiconductor chipsto implement transmission of the target signal.
 38. The system of claim35, wherein the utility circuit is a digital signal processor forprocessing the truncated signal to implement processing of the targetsignal.
 39. The system of claim 37, wherein the utility circuit handlesthe truncated signal to form a handled signal, and the system furthercomprising: an inverse filter circuit for applying an inverse filteringtransfer function to the handled signal, wherein the inverse filteringtransfer function is a reciprocal of the filter transfer function ateach said one or more bands of interest.
 40. The system of claim 35,wherein the filter transfer function is arranged to attenuate each saidone or more bands of interest by differential operation.